By Jean S. HornerThe other day while walking down a corridor
in a public building, I saw what appeared to be someone walking toward
me. On coming closer, I found it was my own reflection in a huge mirror.
For a moment it frightened me. Somehow a full-length reflection of
one’s self is a startling thing. ...

Daily Boost

December 19, 2011 - Don’t Miss the Real Christmas!

By Jerry D. Scott

Christmas is great! I’m as excited as a little kid over all the things that get packed into December: special services at church, shopping for gifts, decorating the house and the tree, cooking big meals, going to parties, staying up too late, eating too much. Already I can feel the anticipation building over the arrival of our sons and daughters and their tribes in a few days. I know that by January 1, I’ll be spent, ready for a few gray days of winter and the usual slowdown after the holidays. I am determined, however, in the middle of all this excitement, that I will not forget why it’s all happening.

Have fun this Christmas! Enjoy the garish decorations of tinsel and blinking lights. Listen to the songs of the holiday joyfully. Buy gifts that are appropriate and affordable. Just do not forget the “why” of it all. Plan to attend worship services. Build “down time” into your schedule for prayer and reflection.

“But, Jerry, you are adding to the long list of things I am already committed to doing!”

Perhaps I am. My intent is not to add, but to encourage you to prioritize. Put first things first. Wouldn’t it be a sorry thing to announce a birthday party and not acknowledge the person who is the reason for it? The good news is old, yet new as well: “Jesus the Savior is born!”

It is all but impossible to come to the end of December without being weary. But if your efforts have a purpose, it’s a good kind of tired. Engage yourself with others. Listen to the Spirit. Focus again and again on the story of God becoming flesh, a baby born in a manger who brought the Word to us.

Ponder this passage prayerfully: “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:9-14, NIV).